BoofleBlog

It’s election day, and I just got called for my first push poll ever! It was for Prop 88 (a $50 parcel tax with the money directed to schools) and was against. What they did was ask “do you remember hearing the following statements associated with the Prop 88 campain: …” and then listing all of the slogans for the No On 88 people. I’m a little surprised that they’re doing it on election day, though. It seems to me that they should be trying to get their message out earlier. Heck, I voted yesterday (absentee) and usually vote even earlier than that.

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So…

I flew to Portland yesterday.  Lovely city.  Nice airport.

I almost fell out of my seat laughing when we were told to turn off all electronic equipment and cell phones as they might interfere with the navigational equipment of the plane.  I can’t carry toothpaste on the flight with me because I might be able to bring the plane down, somehow, even though nobody has ever figured out how, but I and every other person on the flight can carry on a cell phone and a laptop computer and nobody says boo.  Well, they say please turn them off, but nobody ever actually CHECKS.  Carrying more than three ounces of deodorant can get someone on the no-fly list, but “please” is enough to make us safe on the personal electronics front.

Silly old TSA.

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So I watched (parts of) the AFC and NFC championship games yesterday. I managed to catch the beginnings of both, and as the commentators paused for the national anthem, we got to hear the PA announcer speaking to the crowd. At both games, the announcers asked people to rise and remove their hats. (Well, at the game in Seattle, he asked the “gentlemen” to remove their hats.)

When did we start needing to be told to do that? As kids, didn’t we all go to ball games with grownups who took off their hats and didn’t we learn by watching them and the people around them?  Have we forgotten how to show respect for anything anymore?

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Operation Yellow Elephant is an attempt to convince College Republicans to drop out of school and join the military.

It seems only fair — if you’re young, straight, and support the war, why do you expect someone else to die for it? You want the war? You go fight it.

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My mother was listening to NPR this morning when they read the Declaration of Independence in its entirety. She hadn’t ever heard it before — not surprising that she didn’t get it in school since she’s English. It got me wondering how many Americans have actually read it or know what it says.

You really should read the original, but if you can’t be bothered, here’s a paraphrase.

Dear King George,

We humbly beseech that you bite us.

Sincerely,

John Hancock et al.

The longer paraphrase looks like this:

We’re unhappy, we’re not going to be English anymore, and we feel like we should tell everyone why.

We believe that people are born with certain God-given rights and that they form governments to ensure them. When governments stop protecting the rights of their citizens, the citizens have a duty to change them. These governments shouldn’t be changed on a whim, but that’s not something to worry about since most men will go along with almost anything to avoid change. That things have gotten so bad that we’re willing to chance the unknown tells you just what a bastard King George is. We’re going to list some of what he has done, just so you’ll know we’re right.

[The gist of the list is that Georgie is treating us like a conquered people instead of like loyal subjects. What a prick.]

We keep asking him not to do these things, but he won’t take our calls.

We’ve asked other British subjects to help us, reminding them that we’re all brothers. They’ve ignored us and we’re done playing with them, too.

We’re not English anymore. We’re our own country and you don’t want to mess with us.

John Hancock et al.

(P.S. Bite us.)

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